Disappointment over delayed kindergarten plan
Vancouver Sun
By JANET STEFFENHAGEN
02-27-2009

It was only a year ago that the Liberal government raised hopes for expanded kindergarten, saying it was contemplating all-day K for all five-year-olds in September 2009 to be followed by four-year-old kindergarten in 2010 and three-year-old kindergarten a year later….

Bond told trustees Friday that she was "enormously disappointed" that the kindergarten plan cannot proceed at this time, and several trustees echoed that sentiment. The problems were not only financial. The study found that the province probably didn't have enough teachers to deliver the program and could not easily find appropriate space.

(Providing all-day K for all five-year-olds would have required 1,000 additional teachers, she said.)

…. But since total costs are estimated to be as much as $1 billion, one wonders why she floated the idea. (It's not the only Throne Speech idea that has fallen flat. ...

Raymond Raj, a Coast Mountains trustee, told the minister he was particularly disappointed that all-day kindergarten for five-year-olds won't become a reality this year and questioned why government had delayed that part of the proposal. She replied: "The responsible thing was to be cautious."

Perhaps the "responsible thing" was not to raise such hopes in the first place.…